What is it about?
Underwater visual and photographic observations, over a four year period, monitored the presence of mating wounds on female Carcharhinus melanopterus. Mating begins in November and continues until the end of March as each female follows her own temporal cycle. Correspondingly, parturition begins in September and continues until January. Each female again mates 1.5 to 2.5 months after parturition, thus completing an annual reproductive cycle. The gestation period is 286 to 305 days, with slight individual differences. All resident sharks under observation followed this pattern. Evidence of reproductive events presented by transient females conformed with the pattern of the residents.
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Photo by Ali Abdul Rahman on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Former methods of trying to find the gestation period of this species involved killing the mother shark and guessing the gestation period. This failed to reveal the actual gestation period for fifty years! Each shark had her own schedule for mating and birthing, each year, during the warm season. They mated between November and March and birthed between September and January. After a resting period of about two months, they mated again.
Perspectives
This study was also valuable in showing a way of studying sharks that did not involve killing them.
Ila France Porcher
Independent researcher
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: On the gestation period of the blackfin reef shark, Carcharhinus melanopterus, in waters off Moorea, French Polynesia, Marine Biology, January 2005, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1007/s00227-004-1518-0.
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